By Tony Farkas
[email protected]
COLDSPRING — Budget shortfalls and inconsistent state funding has left the Coldspring-Oakhurst school district in need of funds, and the Board of Trustees approved a measure to put a higher tax rate before the voters in the coming election.
Superintendent Dr. Bryan Taulton said they are looking to have a balanced budget, and will pursue the election, which was approved at a special meeting on Aug. 19.
Currently, the tax rate is .78226, or 78 cents per $100 valuation on property, which at that time was the top rate before forcing an automatic election. The proposed rated is .8123, or 81 cents per $100, above the automatic election cap of .7834.
The increase will mean the district would receive just under a million dollars additional from property tax revenue, which Taulton said would help the district address teacher compensation and other budgetary challenges.
Taulton said the district has scaled back in its budget and plans to evaluate the budget for any other areas to cut, such as overtime pay; however, the district still will do all it can to meet student needs.
The proposed budget is just more than $19.5 million.
In a related matter, the board approved a contract for election services from County Elections Administrator Cheri Walker.
Taulton said that during the Aug. 26 meeting, he reported that the district has shown improvement over the last two years after adopting a four-day schedule, particularly in the area of attendance.
He said that when he took over the district in May 2021, there were 49 new teachers on staff, and in a district of Coldspring-Oakhurst’s size, that’s considered a destabilized district.
In May of 2022, there were 40; after transitioning to four-day, there were 25; and only 17 in the current school year.
“This transition has had a tremendous impact, with the students having the highest attendance in years,” he said. “Even the staff has had attendance improvement.”
Taulton said this has gone a good way toward his goal to have the absolute best teachers in front of students — the quality of teachers is better since they have been able to improve recruitment and retention.
In other business, the board:
• approved budget amendments to clean up last fiscal year’s budget, as the new budget year starts Sept. 1. Taulton said the district has a superior rating for the state based on audit reports;
• approved committing the fund balance to transition to new fiscal year;
• approved a purchase of attendance credit;
• approved professional development plans; and
• approved numerous policy changes recommended by the Texas Association of School Boards.
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